Hot: Russian Defense Ministry speaks out to accuse the US of supporting IS terrorism

The Russian Defense Ministry has just accused the US of supporting the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, helping this terrorist group to carry out a series of counterattacks in eastern Syria.

Scenes of devastation after airstrikes in Syria. (Source: AFP/VNA)

In a statement on October 4, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov emphasized: "The most important thing that has kept IS from being completely defeated in Syria is not the organization's military capabilities, but the support and assistance from the United States."

According to Mr. Konashenkov, many recent attacks on the Syrian government army "came from a 50km radius around the At-Tanf border crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border," where the US-led anti-IS coalition has a base.

Russia said the Syrian army had neutralized many IS gunmen groups operating on the road connecting the two cities of Palmyra and Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, and liberated many occupied villages in this area.

Mr. Konashenkov affirmed that if Washington considers the above activities as "unexpected incidents", the Russian Air Force is ready to completely eliminate similar "unexpected incidents" in the US-controlled area.

This is not the first time Russia has accused the US of supporting IS. Last month, Deputy Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament), Franz Klintsevich, said that it was almost 100% certain that the US had used helicopters to evacuate dozens of commanders of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization from the city of Deir Ezzor.

On his personal Facebook account, Mr. Klintsevich stated: "Although the staff of the so-called anti-terrorist coalition has always tried to deny the information that the US evacuated more than 20 IS leaders from the city of Deir al-Zour, the history of US actions, including in Afghanistan, shows that this is almost 100% certain to have happened. As a war veteran, I can confirm that Russia has always felt the direct involvement of the US on the side of the jihadist groups."

Previously, a military-diplomatic source of Sputnik news agency said that in August 2017, the US Air Force evacuated more than 20 IS battlefield commanders and close gunmen from Deir Ezzor to northern Syria.

The source also noted that this was not the first evacuation. However, the US-led international coalition against IS has denied this information./.

According to Vietnam+